The Shape Of Things To Come

War changes everything, even the way things look. Charles Eames used a wood-shaping method developed to make better, lighter splints in World War II to create his iconic molded-plywood chair. Frank Gehry turned to Catia, the software used to design military aircraft, to help create his Guggenheim Bilbao. That chair and that museum were new, and looked new, in a way few things ever do. Design that is different in its elements, not just restyled or reinvented, arises from an almost chemical reaction that takes place when a person meets a material, a practice or a technology and sees through it...